Caroline Olsson

About me

I am a postdoc researcher at the Unit of Intervention and Implementation Research on Worker Health at the Institute of Environmental Medicine. During my postdoc period we will conduct a study about young people that are on sick leave due to mental health problems. We will investigate obstacles and possibilities in relation to getting back to work, all from a gender perspective.

I defended my PhD-thesis in 2019,, with the title: "Medical doctors’ specialty choice – in relation to personality, cultural capital and social background" at the Department of Clinical Science and Education, Södersjukhuset.

Research description

The aim of the thesis was to obtain a deeper understanding of the processes that precede medical doctors’ specialty choice and to investigate how factors such as personality, cultural capital and social background have bearing on that choice. 

The thesis contains four substudies. The first two studies were conducted with quantitative methods, whereas studies III and IV were conducted with qualitative methods. 

This thesis concludes that medical doctors’ specialty choice is a long-term, complex and sometimes contradictory process in which many factors are considered. These dimensions include personal characteristics such as personality traits, social background and the formation of habitus as well as characteristics of patient relations and the type of medicine. In addition, positive and negative encounters with the healthcare system increase or decrease the likelihood of choosing a particular specialty. Finally, perceived status and prestige are central to understanding the attractiveness of different specialties.

 

Education

2019 PhD